Against the usual burnt orange background of the suit of Wands we see a stack of 7 horizontal wands.
In front of the wands is the figure of a man who is looking upwards and has his arms raised towards an eighth wand which he seems to be manouvering into it's place at the top of the pile.

The first thing I thought of when I saw this card was that things were falling into place. The man looks as if the wand is actually going to fall on his head if he isn't careful.

Eights are also about organising and sorting things out after the challenges of the sevens. They are about finding a balance again and this is also what this guy could be doing - he's sorting out the wands that were crossed behind him in the seven and now instead of being crossed they are stacked neatly.

Often this card is about things speeding up and rushing to a close but I don't really get that RWS style meaning from this card at all, although if the wands were falling down upon him then that could give some impression of speed.

After looking at this card a bit more I've decided that I can also see communication in this card.
He looks as if he is shouting to someone higher up, someone who is controlling the descent of those wands (maybe the driver of the crane ).

To me it looked like the figure was saluting the 8th wand, that he is sending off into the stratosphere, with a kind of sayonara and a bon voyage. Whatever this is, 'he' is putting it out there and putting his best wishes for success behind it. He really wants it to hit the mark.

I also noticed the neatly stacked 7 wands behind him. Why are they neatly stacked? This image is very different from other 8 of wands cards I have seen, where all the wands are airborne. I don't get that same kind of exhilaration with this card. This seems more focussed, less 'devil may care', well I hope one lands where I would like, kind of thing.

So why are the 7 wands neatly stacked behind him? Are they out of his line of vision, is he unaware of them? Are they neatly stacked because they are the things he has under his control? Or are they backs ups... if the wand he is tossing out there misses, are these his reserves? Personally, I like the latter. Strength in reserve, certainly will set him up well for the nine.

In general, I think that this is one card that I used to over simplify and also be slightly dismissive of. Until I had one of those readings where the card becomes forever burned on your mind. It appeared in a reading on a living situation where that situation changed unexpectedly and quickly the very next day. From that point on, I don't think I'll ever dismiss the swiftness of this card.

It's an interesting depiction of this card, often it does not have a human figure on it... the figure on this card seems to ground it in a way, put more of a basis for it in the real world rather than up in the clouds with the birdies.

I had to laugh with your crane analogy Sulis, he does look like a bit of a construction worker. That really works for me with this representation of the card. The human figure grounds it for me, and I guess that wand that he is tossing out, is eventually earth bound.

Very odd, morph is facing front and twisting his head backwards and upwards to see how (best?) to manuover the 8th log/wand into place. IF that's what he's doing......

Is this a card of assessment? A manual labourer wouldn't tackle the positioning of logs like this.
Is he judging the physical dimensions of the wand, weight (left hand) and size (looking). Also if the right end of the wand were lowered to the level of his elbow it would be at the correct (orderly) distance from the stacked wands.

Yep, think this has to do with measured thought and assessment, plus a hands-on appraisal. (Strategey or tactics?)

To me it looks like he is almost finished his job or project and is very enthusiastic about how well it has gone. He is shouting cheerfully to someone unseen who I imagine as the one who set the task or people around him he wants to impress as he wants to let them know he is almost finished and still highly motivated. I get a sense of bravado as he is showing off by raising the wand and calling out. He is still not finished though and he should watch out that he finishes the job before he celebrates it's completion.

This card speaks to me about enthusiasm and being on the right track. It says "you are doing well - keep going and remember to stay on track by not letting your standards slip". I have interpreted it this way to someone who is losing weight to become healthy and for myself when I was worried about how I was seen at work.

I can also see the other side of the card as a warning not to be too cocky or over confident. Wait until the eight wand is as neatly stacked as the other seven before proclaiming what you are building to be a success.

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